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14 September 2010

The Number Eight is an indie band from Kalamazoo, MI, with vocalist/guitarist Tim Tapper and guitarist/vocalist/singing saw player Carman Goodrich. They have regular indie U.S. influences but with a certain predisposition towards slowcore, which is the reason one they caught my attention. Their music is still pretty lo-fi, usual and minimal and they remind me of bands like Bunkbed, Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, and at times even to Duster or Pedro The Lion.

There are without surprise, eight songs on this album but only three can be tagged as slowcore, the other ones fall in a shoegaze noisy psychedelic or indie folk category and are typical and average.

Built with an acoustic and an electric guitar with melancholic vocals, "Cease fire", "No static" and "It can only be so far away", are simple minimal, sometimes hesitant, slowcore explorations. There are no drums, no bass, no keyboards or electronics on it but they are not really missing. I've got the impression that the addition of other full-time members to the band could break their balance if they are not careful enough, but it is also a challenge.

These songs are pleasant but the band seems still very green even if working on the good direction on those. I like their minimalism and their self-restraint on these tracks which helps to build nice and tense melancholic atmospheres. I hope they will focus on this (quiet) part of their songwriting in their future and develop it, add nuances to their approach. That way they should be able to reach a strong identity.